Thinkpads Forum

I have the ThinkPad T60p and I have Windows XP screensaver turn on accurately after 7 minutes but the monitor doesn't turn off after 15 minutes like I have it set to in Power Schemes for plugged-in (yes, it's plugged in).

The option is in desktop > right-click > Properties > Screen Saver > Power > Power Schemes. My settings for ThinkPad Default are:

Turn off monitor: After 15 mins
Turn off hard disks: Never
System standby: Never
System hibernates: Never

How should I fix this? Could I have changed something in the BIOS that broke it?

I'd take a look at the advanced settings: Control Panel > Power Options > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings, then look at the Display setting for Plugged In and make sure the turn off time is also set there. If it is a sleep problem, also make sure the Wake Timers are disabled and Multimedia settings are configured to allow sleep.

This link describes some other things to check: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... a0c818db45

The respondent in that link said his XBox 360 controller was preventing the monitor from turning off - maybe its one of your peripheral devices keeping the computer from going to standby?

Hope it helps!

@OP. I agree with FrugalTech. I've made an observation that if I have my wireless Logitech mouse connected to one of my ThinkPads my display will not automatically turn off regardless of power management settings. If I eject the tiny 'nano-receiver' from the USB port all Power Management settings for shutting the LCD off work fine.

The settings I listed are already what's in Power options. I'm not using Windows 7, I'm using XP. These suggestions aren't useful. I'm also using a Bluetooth mouse, not a USB wireless mouse, and have been even before the monitor stopped shutting off according to the power settings. It is set to 15 minutes but it shuts off after an hour.

Wow, I missed that it was an XP install. Sorry about that.

Is the power scheme set for "Always On" or something else? If it isn't, try that option and duplicate the settings you have now.

Did you change your mouse pad or maybe started using it on a different surface? If I leave my USB mouse on a glass top table the computer it's connected to won't stand by because the mouse moves around a little even when I'm not touching it.

Are there upgraded drivers for your video section, mouse or other peripherals, or did you do any driver upgrades recently?

I'm seeing lots of references to making a new power profile, or changing all the settings then returning them to the values you want. See this thread about this issue in XP SP3: http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1617569

Have a good day!

FrugalTech wrote:Wow, I missed that it was an XP install. Sorry about that.

Is the power scheme set for "Always On" or something else? If it isn't, try that option and duplicate the settings you have now.

Did you change your mouse pad or maybe started using it on a different surface? If I leave my USB mouse on a glass top table the computer it's connected to won't stand by because the mouse moves around a little even when I'm not touching it.

Are there upgraded drivers for your video section, mouse or other peripherals, or did you do any driver upgrades recently?

I'm seeing lots of references to making a new power profile, or changing all the settings then returning them to the values you want. See this thread about this issue in XP SP3: http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1617569

Have a good day!

It's set to Portable/Laptop. It doesn't matter what it's set to anyways, I can modify the sub-settings. If your mouse on a glass table top is preventing the monitor from turning off because the mouse is moving, it would prevent the screensaver as well or turn off the screensaver and take it back to the desktop. I'm not aware that mouse movements would allow the screensaver to keep running while preventing the monitor from turning off, and I'm not seeing how that's useful logic anyways. In my experience mouse movements turned on the monitor and removed the screensaver.

I update the drivers through Windows Update or manually when I notice a problem, and there is no noticeable problem and everything is up to date.

I will look into that link you provided.

OK, read that link, please. I'm trying to troubleshoot this with minimal information from you. It must be frustrating to not have an answer yet, but there are a number of possibilities.

Obviously, something changed in your setup in some way and I'm asking you to look outside the box, if you will.

It's difficult to do this when you are discounting certain responses as "not useful", yet not providing useful information in return. I cannot know if you recently changed keyboard or mice, or if any one of a number of other possible changes happened to your system unless you mention it. Did you get a driver update for something recently? Did you add new software or hardware? Was there a recent Windows update? Are your video drivers up to date?

In the case of the glass tabletop, the mouse prevents the monitor from sleeping as the timer resets each time the mouse wakes it up. It would also prevent a screen saver from staying active, if I used one. It's the same effect anyway, the monitor blanking never happens because a peripheral is resetting the time out period. A stuck key that is required for combination keypresses like PrtScr or Ctrl could cause the same symptoms.

Read in the linked post about changing each setting in the power management interface to a different value, saving them, then reverting back to a desired value - or creating a new power profile with the desired settings. That has worked for others. One person reported that changing the setting to "Always On", then changing the sub-settings to desired values fixed the problem. It seems to have something to do with an inability of XP to save certain changes to the profile unless a different or completely new profile is enabled - again according to that thread.

Maybe someone else has a different set of experiences and a different possible solution. Perhaps they will post here.

Trying to help, my friend. Have a good day. The two keys to successful computer repair - don't panic and don't give up.